Tires Continental or FEDERAL

I live in the PNW, we don't get enough snow to warrant a whole set of tires (for me, anyways). I've been running the Continental dws06 Plus (and the prior non plus version) for years, they do exceptionally well in a couple inches of snow, even ice. I have cable chains for when it gets really bad.

Replaced my Geolandars with Conti ExtremeContacts and the ride and handling both improved.

I had the precursors to those viking contacts on my 17 forester and thought they were great.

I've run Hakkapeliittas, Blizzaks, and currently VikingContacts on my various Subarus. They've all been great but the VikingContacts have been my favorite of the 3.

I've had the Altimax in the past and they are totally fine. But the Vikings are really great. Between these two I would get the Contis unless you can get a killer deal on the Altimax

With a set of Continentals, I was pretty much able to drive with impunity, even the heaviest rain.

Contentinal DWS06 - probably my favorite daily driver Tire I’ve experienced, for the extremely health blend of comfort, performance, road noise, longevity. These tires are underrated. So perfect on my partner’s JSW TDI.

Federal command 2.4s have been my favorite so far. Smooth center tread for good rolling and speed retention, but still have some tread on the side for banking and grind protection. Rubber compound they use is also getting softer with time/riding so they feel better the more worn in they get.

Full tread they were good in the rain but definitely left something to be desired once they got below half tread.

My last two sets of tires were Hankook Ventus V2, which were okay (no idea how they are M+S rated) and a set of Continental ContiProContacts which I bought after several recommendations from friends and I will never buy another Continental tire in my life, they were terrible in almost every single way.